Government should train private health workers in Covid-19 control.

By; Charles Katabalwa

28^th Aug 2020

The Uganda Medical Association has appealed to Government to train and equip health workers in private hospitals if Uganda is to eliminate Covid-19 epidemic.

Dr. Richard Idro the president of the Association (UMA) tells the media that government has not paid full attention to private hospitals in the fight against the pandemic yet most people seek treatment from private medical facilities compared to government because of a number of reasons among them accessibility to the locals, equipment and time taken to be attended to.

In addition Idro says that government should equip Villages Health Teams with skills and information to help people understand more about Covid-19 treatment to safe guard the communities as emphasis remains on enforcing the SOPs because Covid-19 is real.

Currently Uganda has a cumulative case number of 2,756, following a total of 77 new cases registered from the samples tested yesterday, 3 of whom were truck drivers, 38 alerts and 27 contacts. The death tall remains 28 and 1,288 recoveries so far according to the ministry of health.

This comes as residents of Abim Town Council are in panic after six suspected COVID-19 cases escaped from Abim Hospital last night.

The six are first contacts of a confirmed COVID-19 case from Abim district. They were placed under quarantine at the Hospital on Monday but later escaped from the facility despite the presence of two police officers.

Abim Resident District Commissioner, Samuel Mpimbaza Hashaka says that the mysterious escape took them by surprise adding that they were already tracking three of the suspected cases who are residents of Abim because others have reportedly fled outside the district.

Abim Hospital is located on Abim Kotido Highway less than a kilometre from Abim town. It’s fenced but there is a general security lapse at the hospital granting the community around free entrance and exit.